Recently, the Food Bank for Larimer County was featured in the 2014 ClimateWise, Business Smart Partner Profile. Read our profile below to learn more about our ClimateWise initiatives. The Food Bank has participated in the ClimateWise program since 2009. You can learn more about ClimateWise at www.fcgov.com/climatewise.

Energy Savings

Totally Tubular – Daylighting for Energy Savings

In the interest of amping up efficiency and continually serving the community, the Food Bank for Larimer County began a daylighting project to provide direct sunlight to its warehouse. The warehouse was undergoing a roof replacement, so the Food Bank seized the opportunity to reduce its environmental impact and enhance the facility atmosphere.

The results of this project have not been quantified yet, but Bruce Wallace, programs director for the Food Bank for Larimer County is happy to report some of the there are advantages like a safer work environment from increased light and employees who seem to be in better moods.”

This project is just one of the Food Bank’s many accomplishments. The organization also composts any unusable food and strives to provide fresh local produce to those in need.

2.9 Million Pounds of Food Rescued

The food bank’s Food Rescue program is part of their effort to provide fresh local food. In 2013, 60,000 pounds a week were diverted – rescued if you will – from the landfill. The bananas turning from yellow to brown, day-old bakery goods, fresh produce blemished with minor bruises and dented canned goods are all perfectly good, safe, nutritious food products. These products would normally be discarded, tossed out and lost, so the Food Bank’s Food Rescue project collects, inspects and passes the food to those in need.

ClimateWise. Business Smart.

Since 2009, the Food Bank for Larimer County has partnered with the City of Fort Collins’ ClimateWise program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, operate more efficiently and better serve the community.

“As we divert usable food from the landfill, we are being climate wise. At the same time, we have more food on our shelves to distribute, and without direct costs, the return on investment is high. That’s business smart,”declares Bruce.

Bruce also is thankful that “as a ClimateWise partner, the Food Bank is able to make good connections with other local businesses that help us with all of our sustainability programs.”

Questions?

You, too, can help divert food from the landfill. Bruce says if you know of a grocery store or local grower who has food that needs to be rescued, contact him.

The 28th Annual Cans Around the Oval raised over $47,000 and 47,000 pounds of food for the Food Bank, enough to provide over 227,000 meals to feed neighbors in need. Cans Around the Oval is northern Colorado’s largest one day food and fund drive and a true community tradition. This year, nearly 120 groups and 14,000 people participated, including CSU students, faculty and staff, students from Poudre School District and local businesses. Since its start, Cans Around the Oval has raised $297,176 and 1,390,910 pounds of food or enough to provide 2.35 million meals to feed hungry seniors, children and families struggling to make ends meet.

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On the eve of Make A Difference Day, no one knows the difference volunteers make better than the Food Bank! Last fiscal year, 1,810 volunteers donated nearly 30,400 hours of service to the Food Bank; the equivalent of 14 full-time staff members! We are so fortunate to have such a large group of dedicated volunteers and know that we couldn’t fulfill our mission without their help!

Make a Difference Day

Holiday Season Volunteer Opportunities

The holidays are just around the corner and with that, comes several volunteer opportunities at the Food Bank. We are looking for volunteers for several upcoming special events; take a look at the listings below to find something that’s right for you!

9 Cares Colorado Shares

Thanksgiving Day Run – November 27

The Fort Collins Thanksgiving Day Run is for runners, walkers and kids! There is also a FREE kids run (1/3 of a mile) known as the “Gobble Gobble”. Bring your family, friends and out of town guests and experience the community spirit of Fort Collins! We need course marshals as well as aid station and start/finish line volunteers

http://www.foodbanklarimer.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/food-bank-larimer-logo-fa.gif00foodbankhttp://www.foodbanklarimer.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/food-bank-larimer-logo-fa.giffoodbank2014-10-23 17:14:452014-10-23 17:14:45Volunteers Make A Difference

October 10-12, 2014 “Cross of the North,” a USA Cycling sanctioned cyclocross race hosted by the First City Cycling Team and presented by Noosa Yoghurt, will take place at The Ranch Events Complex, 5280 Arena Circle, Loveland, Colorado. This is a community event for all ages with a bike race thrown in; food, beverages, an expo and a large Kid Zone will be featured. Bring the family and participate in pumpkin carving and a free kid’s race as well as other children’s activities.

This year, ‘Cross of the North is teaming up with the Food Bank for Larimer County and asking event attendees to bring canned food donations to support local families in need this holiday season. There will be a food drop station at the event expo to collect items such as stuffing, canned yams, canned sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie filling and cranberries. In addition, 2% of all pre-registration racer fees will be donated to the Food Bank, racers also can make an optional cash donation on BikeReg.com when they register for races.

27 Years – 2.1 Million Meals

Cans Around the Oval is an example of how one person can truly make a difference. It started with one person thinking of an idea, one person putting it into motion, and a community coming together to turn it into a tradition. In 1986 the Office of Community Services (OCS), which has now grow into the office of Student Leadership, Involvement & Community Engagement (SLiCE), consisted one of graduate student and three work-study undergraduate students.

It was during this time that a graduate student, Victoria Keller, was hired to oversee the efforts of OSC. One afternoon, a journalism student asked Keller to read over a 2-page assignment she had written proposing a canned food drive, which sparked the fire for Cans Around the Oval. Keller, wanting to pursue the proposal, contacted the Food Bank’s then Director, Sandy Bowden who coined the name Cans Around the Oval. Although Sandy was too busy to be involved that first year, Keller and two other students decided to take on the efforts of orchestrating Cans Around the Oval.

The first Collection Day made a huge impact on the individuals organizing the event; each individual canned food item signified a step in the right direction. Their excitement spilled over into physically placing cans around CSU’s Oval. Although the cans could only line ¼ of the Oval, the enthusiasm surrounding their accomplishment was strong and would become a legacy for the next 28 years.

In 1983, VISTA volunteer, Sandy Bowden, conducted a survey to analyze the food needs of low income and senior residents in Larimer County. The survey verified a need for an efficient, centralized food collection and distribution resource that would avoid duplication of effort. The next year, under the leadership of Sandy Bowden, the Food Bank for Larimer County opened its doors on East Oak Street. During the first month of operation, Sandy and her volunteers were proud to provide 3,800 pounds of food to individuals and families in need. In those days, food came primarily from rotating food drives between different houses of worship.

Over the course of 30 years, our organization has grown and changed to meet the needs of our food insecure neighbors thanks to the support of volunteers, donors, companies, families, students, and individuals like you. Since 1984, we’ve expanded our programming to include the county’s two largest food pantries, one in Loveland and one in Fort Collins. Through our Food Link program, we’ve provided food to nearly 85 non-profit partner agencies annually. And with the addition of our Kids Cafe program in 2005, we increased our focus on eliminating child hunger. But there’s still more work to do and we can’t do it alone. Thank you for your support in the past and your continued support in the future. Together, we can achieve our vision of a Hunger-free Larimer County.

Click here to learn more about the history of the Food Bank for Larimer County.

To support our Kids Link snack program, the Food Bank has teamed up with The Coloradoan and Whole Foods Market Fort Collins to gather snacks for our Kids Link school snack program. Last year, our Kids Link program provided nearly 130,000 snacks with more demand than we had supply. Help us fill the bus with 250,000 individual snacks to make sure all kids in need get healthy snacks when they haven’t had enough to eat.

In partnership with Feeding America, Walmart is offering $3 million in grants to the 50 food banks who receive the most votes during the Walmart Fight Hunger Spark Change campaign. Voting begins on September 15 and runs through October 5.

Here’s how it works:

Starting Monday, September 15 and running through October 5, we need you to vote once a day at www.walmart.com/fighthunger. Search for the Food Bank for Larimer County to vote for us.

You will need a Facebook account to vote (that’s how they’re verifying one vote per day per person). If you don’t have a Facebook account, but know someone who does, please consider asking them to vote! Your info won’t be shared with Walmart and you don’t have to like the Walmart page to participate.

If you do have a Facebook account, please share this with all of your Facebook friends and ask them to vote for us (you can do this from the voting site).

Set a calendar reminder to vote each day – it’s pretty easy and should only take a minute and it’s for a great cause!

When we win – the $60,000 award will support hunger-relief programs in Larimer County. $15,000 of the grant will support three of our agency partners: Community Kitchen, KidsPak and the Murphy Center. The remainder will support our programs. You can learn more about the way we’ll all use the funding on the Food Bank for Larimer County’s page on www.walmart.com/fighthunger.

http://www.foodbanklarimer.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/food-bank-larimer-logo-fa.gif00foodbankhttp://www.foodbanklarimer.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/food-bank-larimer-logo-fa.giffoodbank2014-09-15 07:00:532014-09-10 21:02:33Help us win $60,000 to fight hunger in Larimer County

To support our Kids Link snack program, the Food Bank has teamed up with The Coloradoan and Whole Foods Market Fort Collins for a month long healthy snack drive. Last year, the Food Bank’s Kids Link program provided nearly 130,000 snacks to schools in Larimer County to help children who come to school with an empty stomach because there’s no food in the home.

Our goal for the drive is to “Fill the Bus” with 250,000 individual snacks.

3 Ways to Donate:

1) Drop off snacks at the Coloradoan during the month of September.

2) Stop by the Snack to School. Drive at Whole Foods on Saturday, September 20; 10 am – 3 pm.

Take Action to Help Solve Hunger!

September is Hunger Action Month! Join us as we band together with Feeding America’s nationwide network of food banks to take action to end hunger in our nation. Hunger Action Month is your opportunity to get involved and make a lasting impact. Whether it’s by advocating and raising awareness, donating or volunteering, you can find a way that’s right for you to make a difference during Hunger Action Month. Read more